Why Evidence for the Paranormal Doesn't Improve

It seems that every month or two some new piece of evidence surfaces
that promises to shed light on an unexplained mystery: A miraculous
healing story here, a Borneo river monster photo there. Yet like the
proverbial carrot before the donkey, final evidence is always in sight
but never obtained.

For decades, UFO buffs have claimed that conclusive proof of alien life
is just around the corner. They believe that the "truth will be
revealed" — either by extraterrestrials finally making themselves known
(a visit to the White House lawn or Times Square might be on the
agenda), or by the world's governments ending their conspiracy of silence and letting the public see the real evidence and alien bodies they've had on ice since 1947.

For decades, New Agers have heralded the coming of, well, a New Age.
Some may remember the "Harmonic Convergence" that took place in August
1987, when thousands of people gathered at supposedly sacred sites
around the world (including Stonehenge and the Golden Gate Bridge) to
help usher in a global era of peace, brotherly love, and unity.
Unfortunately — despite two days of song, prayer, and dancing — the
world's wars, genocide, terrorism, and catastrophe have continued
unabated.

Time and again, conclusive evidence is promised and fails to
materialize; in fact it follows a predictable pattern. First, a
non-scientist or layperson claims to have discovered some important new
piece of evidence (such as the discovery of Noah's Ark
on Mt. Ararat in Turkey or the discovery of a Bigfoot track). News
media then pick up and broadcast the story, sensationalizing it in the
process. Then, as public interest mounts, the original promoters
promise that scientists will examine the evidence and prove their
claims.

You might think that the next step is that scientists examine the
evidence and then hold a press conference to announce that the
existence of UFOs, Bigfoot, psychic powers, etc. has finally been verified.

But that doesn't happen. Instead, the claims just fade away. Sometimes the evidence turns out to be hoaxed (such as the "Bigfoot body"
reported in Georgia, or the New Jersey UFO lights case). More often,
the evidence is not faked, it is simply ambiguous and open to a variety
of interpretations. Nothing comes of the story because nothing can be
determined from the evidence.

A case in point is the Yeti (Bigfoot) tracks found in 2007, by Josh
Gates, host of the Sci Fi series "Destination Truth." Gates couldn't
figure out what made a few strange tracks in the Himalaya mountains,
and assumed it must have been a Yeti. The discovery made international
news (aided by the publicity arm of the TV show), and the tracks were
sent to the United States to be examined by top scientists. And what
became of the footprint, touted as elusive hard evidence for the
existence of the Yeti?

As usual, the story began with a bang and ended with a whimper.

The best preserved track that Gates found is not being studied by
scientists at the Smithsonian. It is not the subject of scientific
scrutiny, with results being published in a peer-reviewed science
journal.

No, the much-hyped, long-awaited solid evidence of the Yeti is currently on display at Disney World.

Benjamin Radford is managing editor of the Skeptical Inquirer
science magazine. His books, films, and other projects can be found on
his website. His Bad Science column appears regularly on LiveScience.